Saturday, February 27, 2010

I just love it when I get a burst of inspiration and everything comes together 'just like that'. I have had a photo in my collection for ages, I wanted to scrap it, but I just couldn't get the whole thing right in my head. So as soon as I opened this week's flowers, I knew exactly where they were going! They are little metal marigolds. I love marigolds, especially the simple ones that are like orange daisies. I have only ever had them in one of my gardens, and they were just there, they came up every summer - I presume a present from some birds. They resisted all my attempts to grow them from their own seeds or to try and overwinter them in a pot. And now they remain a lovely memory in this photograph.

The child is my daughter, aged 2, in her ducky dressing gown that she loved, and that we still have. She is walking purposefully up the garden (it was on a slope) for whatever serious intent was on her mind. The garden was surrounded by mixed hedges and these held a sort of magic for the children - I like to think that maybe there were, indeed, fairies at the bottom of our garden. The metal brad doesn't really show up in the photo - but it's a picture of a fairy and it says fairies on it. The paper is 7 Gypsies, and again, I've had it for ages. Bought it cos I loved it but wasn't sure what I was doing with it - until today. The words are made from Hero Arts letter stamps, on watercolour paper and cut out - cos I like cutting out :P

Friday, February 26, 2010

It often occurs to me how the oddest things remind you of a person, a moment, or a place. This evening I was washing some pots in the sink, squeezed the washing-up liquid bottle, and out came some TINY bubbles. They floated around for a while, making me smile. I was instantly aware of the presence of my beloved dad standing beside me, warm and comforting. Telling me how he loved the little bubbles, they were like fairy bubbles. And watching them as they floated around the kitchen, dishes forgotten. My father was often like this, finding beauty and wonder in the smallest of things, and pleasure in the tiniest of moments. I felt he was so close to me in that moment. And I was grateful, as I am almost every day, for the gift he gave me - to be able to see wonder in the every day tiny things that make up our lives.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I've done it again........I took the photo and I made the card and then I took a photo of that and then I put the camera somewhere and got sidetracked and forgot about it and then I couldn't find the camera and then and then........anyway here are the flowers from last Friday, little purple ones that I used as the centre for the green daisies cos they work so well together.This is an Easter card for the children of some friends of mine.And this is the original notebook I made -the page are made from rough paper, dyed with coffee and folded so that there are little pockets in which you can put whatever you like! I am using it as a gardening notebook for this year, as we are building some raised beds for our veg. So I have magazine cuttings in the pockets and am writing lists of seeds. Whenever we get round to planting them I will keep a record of the dates etc and we will try and have an ongoing crop of home-grown veg. Whenever the spring starts of course!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

I forgot to post my Friday flowers - well, I didn't really forget, I was just pretty busy........but here they are, better late than never! And I know exactly what I am going to do with them. They are going on an Easter card for a friend's little girl - I bought some cute little bunnies in Cara Craft Supplies and one of them is wearing a hat EXACTLY that shade of green.That's one of the lovely things about this gift to me - every week I am given some inspiration when I open my envelope of flowers. Thank you again to my Fairy Godmother - many hugs to you, I hope you read this blog.

This week I finally finished something I have been wanting to make for ages. Originally it was just going to be a notebook. But now it is going to be a notebook for my flowers. I am keeping one example of each flower and sticking it in this notebook with the date and a note of what I made with it. The notebook is made from mount board, painted with 2 layers of acrylic paint and PVA glue, and stuck with paper and cloth. You can make your own pages for it, but I had an old notebook of handmade paper that the cover had disappeared from. So the inside is made from that and just tied to the covers with string. When I get time to stick in my flowers I will post more pictures. The picture on the front is a birthday card that I got from my sister-in-law last year, and the flower is a Hero Arts flower (when I got the card I immediately thought of using this flower with it as the colours are so good!). I love making these notebooks, this is the second one I have made and its a technique that I learned from a tutorial by Caroline Moore. During the week I will post the first one I made, as it has pockets in it made from folded paper. I use it for my gardening notebook :D

Sunday, February 7, 2010

I was given this award a while ago by Carol, and I had no idea how to display it on my blog until she explained it to me...so, finally here it is, and thank you Carol :DI would like to pass it on to two ladies who take the most amazing photographs. They both have more than one blog, but this award is going to their photo blogs. First its goes to Jackie, for her gorgeous photos, I love looking at them, my most recent favourite is the one of the Samuel Beckett Bridge at night. They always make me feel like I am living somewhere far more interesting and exciting than it actually seems :D. And secondly it goes to Lou, who has started a project this year to have a photo for every day. There is such a range of subject matter, some of them are funny, some are moving, and they are all interesting and inspiring. And very creative. Thanks ladies!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Yes indeed there has been sickness this week in the Sabriel household. One of my sons has a chest infection, which the doctor said was viral, but then he got a secondary bacterial infection and needed antibiotics which are making him very tired and fed up. I got a nasty throat which I managed to get rid of by gargling with salty water every 2 hours, so no antibiotics for me, hurray. We both felt rubbish, so we sat and watched DVDs, starting with the Star Wars saga. I love those movies, they were so exciting and different when they first came out in the cinema. My son was surprised to read that the first one won 8 Oscars - we forget that it was so groundbreaking and new and amazing in the 70s. And when we found out the truth about Darth Vader and Luke - well - gobsmacked doesn't even go close to describing it. These days, with YouTube and internet, that secret wouldn't have lasted for long!Sunflowers were in my little gold envelope this week and I used one of them to make a tag which is part of a card I am doing for a friend's birthday. I love sunflowers, they always make me smile.I am going to use some of the others on a LO with a photo of my dear friend Joan who died last March. Sunflowers remind me of her, because every year I grew some from seed, and gave her a few seedlings which she grew on her patio. Hers usually grew taller than mine! She especially loved the dark sunflowers which I grew one year, and these little flowers are almost exactly the same colour. I have a lovely photo of her and her husband and the sunflowers are going to be incorporated into a LO with some other things too. I miss her very much, but when I think of her I always smile. So perhaps my title should have been - Sunflowers, Sickness, Star wars - and Smiles.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Well I got to see the Turners before the end of January, and to be honest, I just sat in front of 3 of them. They are all of Venice, and above is a copy of my favourite. I took this photo from a calendar that I bought a few years ago. It doesn't do it justice at all. The whole composition is so amazing and the gondola on the right is just a few brush strokes, but stands out so clearly from the whole painting. That's what I love about Turner. Stand back from it, and it looks like a whole landscape. Go close and you can see how few brushstrokes there actually are. I want to be able to paint like that!And then I did some cards, and made a tag with this week's flowers :D